Frequently-asked questions (FAQ)
What does the process involve?
The most important aspect of producing your life story is to capture your memories.
Whether you do it yourself or we do it with you, it is important that your memories get out of your head and down on paper or recorded via audio or video.
From there, you have several options for preserving those memories in a published book, professionally-written manuscript, or in an edited audio or video recording.
What will I talk about?
That’s a great question! Everyone’s story is unique. We want to capture the most important aspects of your life, whether they are:
- Your core values
- Your personal or family history
- Key relationships
- Most important lessons learned
- Favorite memories and experiences
- There are literally hundreds of options
If you do it yourself, we’ll suggest dozens of topics to address as well as hundreds of questions for you to consider.
Or, if we do it for you, our experienced journalists can guide you through an interview to draw out important details of your life.
Before the interview, we will send you an outline to complete so we know what’s most important to you.
For example, did you own a business, travel extensively, enjoy a special relationship, have a life-changing experience, etc.?
Our interviewer will prompt you to provide details to those questions and come up with a bunch of others as well.
Can my story be edited?
Absolutely! Thanks to the marvels of modern technology, we can eliminate any filler words, like “umm” and “ahh” from audio and video recordings.
Our software will also modify the recording to eliminate echos and background noise. The final version will sound almost like it was recorded in a studio.
As for a written story, that can be edited, too. Our professional writers will do their best to determine what you were trying to say, and phrase it in a way that tells a great story.
However, you are free to make any changes you would like to the audio, video or written version. It may mean that a section of the audio or video recording would need to be eliminated or re-recorded at an additional fee. Each situation is different.
Is my life story copyrighted?
Yes, your story is copyrighted by YOU.
Whatever is created, whether in audio, video or written form, U.S. Copyright Law says it is copyrighted the moment it is created in a tangible form.
Even though you pay us to compile your life story, it still belongs to you.
We aren’t going to do anything with your life story, unless you give us specific permission for us to share part or all of your story as a sample of work we can do.
You can get more information form the U.S. Copyright Office at www.copyright.gov.
Can I get help to do it myself?
Yes. You you have an option to join the Life Story School membership group. We have a weekly live call every Thursday night at 5 p.m. Mountain Standard time where you can ask questions and get advice.
All calls are recorded and available to be replayed whenever you’d like to listen to them. The recordings are time-stamped so you can jump right to a question you may have to get an answer.
You can also post questions in Life Story School’s private Facebook group.
Can you prepare my life story for me?
By the summer of 2025, we will have three options to help you capture your life story:
Do it yourself —We offer a course that you can take at your own pace to learn what to write or talk about, how to record it on video or audio, and how to format it in written form so it can be printed locally.
Do it with you — We supply the questions, you answer them, then we edit your responses to make them sound good.
Do it for you — You’ll be interviewed by a professional journalist to gather your story by audio, video or both. Then it will be professionally written and edited before being packaged in a manner ideal for giving.
Where do interviews take place?
As a general rule, all interviews are done online via Zoom for best audio and video sound quality.
Interviews can be conducted over the phone, but they don’t usually sound as nice.
Arrangements can be made to conduct interviews in person, especially if you live near Phoenix, Ariz.
In-person interviews may be available in other parts of the country, depdending on availability.
How much does it cost?
We have several pricing options. They vary depending on how much work you are willing to do yourself, and how much work you want us to do for you.
There are more details on our pricing page.
We accept funds by credit card, which is processed through Stripe. You also have the option to pay via PayPal, which can offer several payment plans that are not affiliated with Life Story School.
Proof copies of the audio, video or written product will contain watermarks to prevent unauthorized duplication.
Do you offer refunds?
We do want you to be happy with the final product. So we will do our best to make corrections or present your life story in a format you like.
Although the final written product will be professionally edited and proofread, we can not guarantee it will be 100% free of typos and grammatical errors.
Still have questions?
Feel free to email us a question any time at questions@lifestory.school, or complete the form below. We till try to answer your questions within one day. Don’t forget to do the simple math problem next to the submit button. We know it is inconvenient, but it works to greatly reduce the amount of spam we receive, which enables us to respond faster to your question.